From the Publisher - Sept. 2014

09/12/2014 09:53AM
● Published by Robert Frey

By Art Suberbielle

"We Don't Have a Strategy Yet"

This is how the President of the most powerful country in the world answered a reporter at a recent press conference after ISIS had taken control of another large area of Iraq. This comment by President Obama does send a red flag to all of us.

According to Merriam-Webster, strategy is “a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time.” So what is going through Obama’s mind when he makes such a ridiculous statement? He later went on to imply that the ISIS activity came as a surprise to him. Goodness knows we spend billions on espionage to supposedly keep our finger on the pulse of activity around the world. And the U.S. has thousands of people employed at the Pentagon to monitor situations just like this. So how are we to believe Obama saying, “We don’t have a strategy yet.”

In today’s fast-paced world, all of us plan carefully so we can handle all of our responsibilities and duties. The complexities of life demand planning. What would happen if you didn’t make plans to get your children to school on time, or to prepare a meal, or any one of countless other duties that comes with being a responsible citizen?

Now imagine how a country like ours can survive without a cohesive strategy to combat the evil forces eager to inflict harm on us. We can’t help but wonder how our President could make such a statement. But then, this comes from the mouth of the same person who said about the Affordable Car Act, “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

Lately the U.S. has been engaging in sporadic military operations against the ISIS positions in Iraq. Certainly none of us want to see this turn into another full-blown war. But we also don’t want to allow another well-financed and organized terrorist group to establish a major stronghold that can be used eventually against U.S. interests, perhaps even within the borders of our country. We must speak out about this travesty: “We don’t have a strategy yet.” It’s past time that we implement one.